Marty Kaplan's Blog

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day!  We will catch up with Brian and Ofelia this evening and celebrate with dinner at Basílico.  Early this afternoon we have a date with Pepe and Woody Aragón to help with the taping of Woody’s course for Magic Agora.  We will be part of the taping of the effects, but not the explanations.  This will be a first for both of us and it should be fun.

Before lunch yesterday we visited the Nespresso store to stock up on coffee and when we got back home we decided that we were really in the mood for a light lunch so we took advantage of the moment to dine on all the leftovers in the fridge.  By the time we had finished lunch it was time for me to catch up with Melissa at Las Torres for our conversation lesson.  She wanted to go over rooms and items found in a house and I had found a good graphic on the Internet and I brought that along.

Our vocabulary lesson lasted almost and hour and a half and when I returned home I found an e-mail from Pepe telling me that he and Woody were working on the script for today’s taping, but they would be at the CIVAC for dinner.  I got there a little after 8:30 and both Pepe and Woody had arrived earlier and Woody was deeply engaged in conversation with several of the members.  Some fifteen minutes later I had the chance to chat with him.  We discovered that we had an event in common in our past even though neither of us was aware of it until that moment.

Woody is from Toledo and the first Spanish National Magic Convention that I attended was in Toledo in June of 1990.  It was there that I had the opportunity to see some of the true stars of Spanish and European magic.  I got to see Paul Daniels, Barnard Bilis, Tommy Wonder, Bob Read, Camilo, Pepe Carroll, Juan Tamariz and Arturo de Ascanio perform on the same bill.  It turns out that there lived in Toledo a 14-year-old boy who was interested in magic, but had never seen it performed in his Toledo because he knew of no magicians in his town and there most certainly was no magic store there.  On his way home from school he sees a gathering of magicians on the steps of the theater in his home town and when he draws closer he sees a poster listing the events for the convention and he notices that there is a close-up gala later that day.  Knowing nothing about conventions and ID badges and the like, he walks into the theater, takes a seat and is absolutely amazed at all that he sees.  That is when the magic bug took a firm foothold in the body, mind and soul of Woody Aragón and to this day it has not let hold of its grip.

In the course of our conversation, which started out in Spanish and continued in English, Woody allowed that the only problem with having seen that first show in Toledo was that he thought that all magicians performed at that level of expertise.  He soon found out the truth.  Magic has allowed Woody to travel and he has spent a goodly amount of time in the US.  He has traveled frequently to Miami where he has appeared with Don Francisco on his Saturday night show that is broadcast on Univision in the States.  He has also appeared at Monday Night Magic in New York and has competed in Dallas and Las Vegas.  He has also been to Pittsburgh where he competed in the last SAM Convention.  Woody has yet to make it to California, but hopefully he will make it there soon.  His most recent travel took him to London where he competed in the International Magic Convention and won First Prize for close-up magic.

A little after 9:30 we sat down with our sandwiches that had been prepared for all of us by Paquito and our conversations continued.  A little after 10:30 I was beginning to run low on energy and so I said my goodbyes and walked back home.  Juan Manuel Marcos who lives close by accompanied me on the way.  When I walked in the house Susan was watching TV.  We chatted for a while and then I headed for bed to rest up for my TV debut today.

Woody and I

Woody and Juanma Marcos in conversation

Woody and Juanma

Monday, February 13, 2012

Sunday was truly a day of rest for us.  We did absolutely nothing.  I did make a trip to the bakery and I picked up a newspaper, but that was the sum of my outdoor adventures yesterday.  Susan didn’t even leave the house.  We ate lunch at home and, in the evening, Susan watched an episode of Downton Abbey and I continued studying Woody Aragon’s book.  Susan spoke briefly with Brian about his trip to Florida and we then made plans to dine together on Tuesday evening to celebrate Valentine’s Day and on Sunday we will go to La Matandeta to celebrate Ofelia’s birthday.  La Matandeta is a restaurant located in the Albufera just outside of Valencia proper and it is reputed to make one of the best paellas in all of Spain.  It was featured on Mario Batali’s “Spain: On the Road Again.”

This morning’s paper announced that the Greek Parliament approved the conditions and cuts required by the European Union in order for them to receive yet another economic bailout so that they can repay some of their indebtedness and have their government continue to operate.  Reports indicate that some 80,000 people took to the streets screaming, throwing rocks and firebombs and burning down a number of buildings in order to protest Parliament’s impending approval.  As one European politician observed Greece is the birthplace of democracy and it is also the birthplace of drama.  I imagine that much of the displeasure of the people in the streets comes from the realization that the party is over.  The government will now have to look for ways to oblige the majority of the population who do not pay taxes to pay those taxes.  It will now have to track down those people who continue to receive and cash pension checks of people who died ten or twenty years ago.  It will have to pare the rolls of government workers many of whom do no work and just cash a check.  They will have to justify why the workers in the public sector earn more money than those in similar jobs in the private sector.  The only question that remains is will the Greek government actually put these reforms into force.  In spite of past promises to do so, as of today they have done next to nothing.

It is back to the routine today.  I will head back to the gym to do some cardio and some exercise and Susan will go to her Pilates class.  I have a 4:30 conversation class with Melissa and then I will head to the CIVAC this evening.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

It’s another brisk morning here in Valencia, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue.  We have just finished breakfast thanks to a trip I made to El Parisien.  I also picked up a newspaper along the way, so we will just kick back and relax on this Sunday.  My cold is about 90% gone and another easy day will probably serve to make sure that Monday will be a day when I can go back to all my normal activities.

Yesterday morning was filled with the usual activities and we decided that we would go out for lunch and have Sunday be a day when we had lunch at home.  We hit the streets a little after 2:00 with no fixed destination in mind.  We walked by a couple of places that we tend to frequent, but we kept on going.  After exploring a couple of narrow winding streets we found ourselves close to La Plaza del Árbol and we knew that there was a restaurant close by that was on our list of places to try.  In less than two minutes we found ourselves seated at a window table at La Comisaría.

La Comisaría is another boutique restaurant that has recently opened in Valencia.  The owners are friends of Mike and Santi and that is how we found out about this spot.  The space is small with room for a dozen people on the ground floor and enough space for some thirty people on the floor above.  Our table was directly opposite the cooking area and we had a perfect view of every dish that was prepared while we were there.

The menu features a variety of vegetarian dishes, fish dishes and meat dishes.  Everything is served tapas style and that means that whatever dish is ordered goes into the center of the table as it is meant for sharing.  We began with an eggplant dish that consisted of thin slices of eggplant that had been cooked off on the grill and then covered with a pesto sauce.  Next came a plate of langoustines that had been coated with crumbs from crushed shrimp chips and then pan-fried.  Our last dish was a plate of migas made with morcilla and black truffles that was sitting on a bed of pureed leeks and mashed potatoes.  If you are not sure what migas are here is a link that will clarify the matter for you http://spanishfood.about.com/od/spanishfoodfaqs/f/what-are-migas.htm.  Everything that we tried was superb.  We also had the opportunity to watch Carlos, the chef, prepare a number of other dishes for a party of four that came in when we were about halfway through our meal.

Carlos is originally from Barcelona and began his kitchen apprenticeship when he was fifteen.  He has cooked in a number of different restaurants and watching him prepare a variety of dishes it is clear that he is both skilled and inventive.  I jokingly said to him that in addition to cooking skills, it helps to be a surgeon and an architect so that one can construct what, in the end, are tasty and eye appealing dishes.

There was only one server in the room and that was Ana.  Ana is originally from Rumania and has spent time in Pasadena, California.  She has been in Valencia for a number of years now and really likes it, as do her sisters when they come to visit.  As each dish came to our table Ana would give us a detailed description of what we were looking at.  She also recommended a lovely Valencian red wine that went perfectly with the three dishes we had ordered.  She asked if we wanted dessert and we were unable to resist a brownie topped with a praline cream.  Coffee was in order and so was a chupito or two.  It was close to 4:30 when we pushed back from the table, said our goodbyes and made our way home.

We were in for the evening.  I worked on my translation of the Dean Dill article and was able to finish it and send it off to Dean. I also worked on another effect from Woody Aragón’s book.  We decided to watch a movie last night and we chose a French film entitled “The Names of Love.”  Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn9MqF8R9S0.  It was a funny, yet thought provoking film.  When the movie was over, we watched the latest episode of Glee.  When we shut off the TV it was close to midnight and we decided that our best decision would be to go to bed and so we did.

Carlos - The Chef

Interior i - La Comisaría

Interior 2

When the Turia was a river that flowed through the city

Herbs and sauces at the ready!

Ana

Eggplant in pesto with a Parmesan crust

Langostinos

Migas

Migas plated

Tomate con tres texturas - sliced and diced tomatoes topped with a tomato cream

Brownie with praline cream

Carlos

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The thermometer keeps flirting with zero degrees Celsius at night.  During the daylight hours it struggle to reach double digits when using the Celsius scale.  People are bundled up and just about everyone keeps saying that this is a historic cold.  The longer the cold snap lasts the greater the number in the statement, “It hasn’t been this cold in the last XX (Fill in your own number.) years.” According to official records the last time it was this cold in Valencia was 2005.  I am not finding it at all uncomfortable.  My difficulty is more with hot weather than with cold.

My cold is improving although it left me feeling rather tired yesterday and that helped limit my outdoor activity.  I caught up with Miguel around noon because he had e-mailed me that a package for me had arrived earlier in the day.  It turned out to be the magic that I had ordered on Wednesday evening.  The package included everything that I had ordered.  Several of the items were for the kids show that I might end up doing for Jordi at his restaurant, however the prize in the package was a book by Woody Aragón called A Book in English.  The book has gotten outstanding reviews and I am looking forward to getting really into it.  I love the first effect in the book, which involves maximum spectator participation.  I liked it so much that I made up a version using business cards rather than playing cards.  Today may just be the day that I delve further into the book.

I received an e-mail yesterday afternoon around 5:00 from Miquel Soriano who is the business manager for Magic Agora.  They are about to launch a new initiative on February 14 and they needed an English translation as soon as possible so that the English speakers who visit the site would be as up to speed as the Spanish speakers.  Magic Agora will be offering a series of videoconferences that will feature some of the biggest names in magic.  Attendance will be limited so that those attending the conference will have the opportunity to ask questions.  When necessary, simultaneous translation will be offered.  This will be a free service and, as it turns out, the first two guest speakers will be Woody Aragón and a player to be named later.  In my translation I called these conferences coffee klatches because that is precisely what they were describing in the Spanish version.  My only question is how many of the young crowd will know what a coffee klatch is?

I also used my afternoon and early evening to work on my translation of the Dean Dill article.  I am about halfway through it and I hope to finish it up this weekend.  Around 9:00 we snuck out to La Fórcola and had an early dinner.  We started off with a plate of steamed mussels and then I chose a linguine with seafood for my entrée and Susan chose a pasta with a cheese sauce for hers.  We ordered a bottle of verdicchio to go with the meal and it turned out to be an excellent choice.  We both had dessert, but we passed on coffee.  When we got back home we chatted with Rachel for a while and afterwards we watched some TV before calling it a day.  We have no grand plan for today so we shall wait and see what develops.

Woody Aragón

Linguine with seafood

Pasta alla Fórcola

Friday, February 10, 2012

Susan is at the acupuncturist hoping to get some relief from her thumb pain and after I finish this entry I will stop by Miguel’s to pick up a package that arrived this morning.  Among other things it contains a copy of Woody Aragon’s latest offering entitled A Book in English.  Woody, who now owns and operates a small, intimate theater in Madrid that features close-up magic, has won a number of prizes in the last little bit.  His most recent award was a First Prize for close-up at the Blackpool Magic convention.  The book has gotten excellent reviews and I am looking forward to reading it and finding new material for my repertoire.

I spent a good part of Thursday working on translations.  I needed to edit two articles for Magic Agora and those went pretty quickly.  As some of you may already know, I wrote a rather lengthy article about Dean Dill for a Spanish magic magazine called “El Manuscrito” that is owned and edited by Dani Daortiz.  Dani sent Dean a number of copies that arrived last week.  Dean has asked me to translate the article that I wrote in Spanish.  I began that task yesterday and I hope to finish it today.

Rosa arrived on time and we spent a few minutes chatting with her while we got ready to head out for lunch.  Miguel was also to come by to change the filter in the heater/air conditioner and to attack some of the dirt and mold on the walls of the trastero. With the dryer not vented to the outdoors and the range hood fan vented to the trastero there is an occasional buildup on the walls that is easily solved with an application of bleach.

We decided that we would combine exercise with lunch so we headed off along the Gran Vía to see if we could get a table at Basílico even though we did not have a reservation.  The weather in Valencia continues to be brisk, but walking is really not uncomfortable.  When we peeked in the window of the restaurant some thirty minutes later it appeared that there were several tables available.  When we walked in Alex greeted us and sat us at a four top that was close to the door.  When we were comfortably settled, Alex told us what the menu of the day was and that made our lunch decision very easy.

We started off with a piping hot vegetable noodle soup that was accompanied by a bruschetta of spinach and grated cheese.  Even though I claim not to be a soup lover, yesterday’s soup was very tasty and just the right prescription after our brisk walk.  The bruschetta was a good counterpoint to the soup.  Our main dish was a rice dish prepared in a wok, perfectly spiced with the right amount of heat and topped with pieces of crab that had been purchased earlier in the day.  The rice was just the slightest bit crunchy and the crab was divine.  I almost licked the plate.  Dessert was a bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream and a touch of cinnamon.  We had the house red wine with our soup and switched to the house white with the rice dish.  We finished our meal with coffee and while I was finishing my coffee I had the chance to chat a bit with Arif.

It turns out that one of his vendors had come yesterday morning with a tray full of fresh crabs and he had purchased all of them and hence the inspiration for the lunch entrée. I also discovered that when they opened Basílico a number of years ago they were only the second restaurant to be found in the Ruzafa neighborhood.  Now there are more than forty.  How lucky for us!

On our way back we decided to stop at A Taste of America, a store that features products from the States.  We were specifically looking for products that were kosher and that might be of interest to Rachel when she comes to visit next month.  We did find several and that was the good news.  When we got back home it was a bit after 5:00.  Susan rested for a while and then headed off to meet with Zahava.  They had a movie date to se “J Edgar” with Leonardo Di Caprio. I made use of the evening by doing some translation, watching an episode of Glee and chatting extensively with Rachel.  Susan got home at midnight and bedtime was thirty minutes later.

Vegetable soup and bruschetta

Rice with crab

Rice with crab 2

Bread pudding with vanilla ice cream

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Rosa is coming today to clean the house and do some ironing. That means that we need to leave as soon as she gets here otherwise we will be subjected to a three hour monologue and little work will get done.  It is a good excuse to go out for lunch and do some window-shopping.

I felt well enough yesterday to join Susan on an excursion to the Central Market.  The cupboard was bare and we needed to pick up fruits, vegetables, dried fruit and nuts, ham, cheeses, chicken and steak.  We also picked up some olives, some wine, a jar of honey and some fresh basil.  We knew we would need the shopping cart and we were right on target.  After we had put everything away, we decided that we would go out for lunch.  The only question was where.

We decided to give Bajando al Sur another try.  It’s not that we had eaten there before.  The issue is that every time we have tried to eat there it has been closed.  We were successful yesterday.  The restaurant was empty and we were escorted to a table in the back of the house that has a window on the small garden that has been planted outside.  The view was pleasant and the background music playing through the speakers was just the right touch.  We studied the menu of the day and made our decisions.

Susan started her meal with a rather traditional salad and I chose the pasta salad with chicken.  For her entrée Susan chose a ham and Camembert crepe and I went for the chicken, bacon and onion crepe. Both were delicious.  Susan chose a fruit crepe with chocolate sauce for her dessert and I decided on a homemade dark chocolate cake.  I had a beer and a glass of wine and Susan had a glass of wine.  We finished our meal with a coffee and then paid the bill, which was a whopping 21 Euros. From the restaurant we went directly home and I opted for an afternoon siesta.

When I awoke I invited Susan to accompany on a trip to the local magic store.  In thinking about my potential gig at Carusel there were a couple of things that I was in the market for.  The store is a twenty-minute walk from the house and although it was rather brisk out the walk was not unpleasant.  When we walked in there was a young customer being attended to so we passed the time jus looking around at the various displays.  In looking around, I happened to walk by the office and the owner, Darío Rochester was in there hard at work.  He came out and we chatted for a while.

La Varita Mágica is the only brick and mortar magic store in Valencia and it is struggling for a number of reasons.  There is fierce competition from the online magic stores of which there are many in Spain and the state of the economy is not helping either.  The online stores do not have to worry about rent, utilities and employee salaries since most operate out of their own homes and if there is an employee it is usually the owner’s wife.  The buyer pays postage and since the costs of the operation are lower the prices are lower, too.  The other reality is that since business is slow the stock on-hand is less than usual and it is difficult to find some of the basics.  That means that some customers will look for the basics elsewhere.

The brick and mortar magic store are rapidly disappearing all over the world.  Los Angeles, one of the most vibrant centers of magic in the world, has one magic shop in Studio City.  Some of my best magic memories come from my visits to magic shops.  I was fortunate enough to start my buying career at Al’s Magic Shop in Washington, DC. The owner, Al Cohen, was known as the best magic demonstrator in the United States.  Al could sell you just about anything, but the good news is that he would not sell you stuff that you could not do given your level of experience.  The advantage of shopping in real store is that you get to see and sometimes touch the material and judge its quality.  You also get to see the effect as your spectator would.  There are no camera tricks that hide the weak points of an effect.  When you buy an effect from a magic store, if you are having difficulty with an effect you can return and have the demonstrator or owner help you solve your problem.  The magic shop was also a place where you could hang out with other magicians.

The cyber-stores have given rise to an outpouring of crap that is demonstrated on flashy videos with hip music and crowds oohing and aahing at the climax of every move the magician makes and of course the crowds usually consist of gaggles of young women.  These days there are lots of imports from India and China, which are copies of someone else’s effects and they are pieces of junk that look gimmicky and fall apart after a few uses.  I count myself lucky to be a regular at Dean’s Shoppe where I can hang with some of the best magicians in the biz and learn from them.

My visit with Rochester was brief and we talked about the state of magic in general.  He was out of two of the things I was looking for, but he did have one item and I purchased it and then Susan and I headed back home.  Susan had left some chicken soup simmering on the stove and it was at the perfect state of doneness when we walked through the door.

The chicken stock served as the liquid for a dish that Susan made with couscous, chicken and dried fruit.  It was absolutely delicious.  It was so delicious that I had a second helping.  We watched some TV after dinner and at 11:30 I was done in and so I turned in.

Bajando al Sur - garden view

Pasta salad

Ssuan's Salad

Dark Chocolate Cake

Fruit Crepe

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The cold is still holding on, but I continue to feel better.  I am trying to be reasonable and to limit my activities.  I did sneak out to the corner store to buy some water and I felt good enough to go out for lunch at a nearby restaurant.  When we passed by Salatën, we liked the menu of the day and so we decided to stop in.

The restaurant was packed and we were asked if we had a reservation.  We did not, so we ended up at a table that was close to the door that leads to the kitchen.  Since we were not in a trendy LA restaurant where that table is the nobody table, I was not distressed.  The menu of the day offered four different appetizers and four different entrees.  Susan chose the German salad that looked like a traditional salad with the addition of julienne strips of veal.  I had a feixoada, which is a Brazilian dish made with black beans and small pieces of sausage.  For the main course Susan opted for a breaded pork chop and I chose the meatballs.  Both dishes were very tasty and reflected the restaurant’s commitment to the use of quality products.  For dessert Susan chose the pear that had been poached in a sugar syrup with cinnamon and clove, topped with liquid chocolate and served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I went traditional and chose the brownie.

We both opted for red wine and the house pour was Enate, which is a very nice Spanish red and of a quality that is far beyond what most restaurants will pour as their house wine.  When I asked for a second glass, the waiter came by and poured me the remainder of the bottle saying that it did not constitute a full glass and so he was not going to charge me for what was essentially a half glass of wine.  We finished the meal with a coffee and took advantage of the presence of the waiter to ask him about the restaurant’s odd name.  It turns out the Salatën is a combination of the two last names of the owners.  Question answered.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  We read and watched some TV.  I had purchased the DVD’s of the first season of a series called “Cuéntame cómo pasó”, which follows a family beginning in the year 1968 and gives us an idea of what life was like for a middle class family of that era when Franco was still in power. The series is now in its 13^th year so we have a lot of catching up to do.  We chatted with Rachel for a bit and discovered that she is still very much overloaded with conference calls as a deadline approaches for one of the projects in which she is involved.  I went to bed soon thereafter.  Susan stayed up for a while and read some more of a new book she has started.

Feioaxada

Ensalada alemana

chuleta de lomo empanado

Albóndigas

Poire Helene

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I feel a bit better this morning, but the cold is still alive and well here in my body.  I may venture outside today, but if I do so, it will be a brief trip to pick up some more water.  Tap water here is laden with calcium and it mucks up any appliance that requires water.  Since the steam iron, the coffee maker and our electric teapot all fit into that category, we manage to go through a lot of water every week.

Pepe’s battle with Google+ continues.  They took down his Maja Desnuda graphic.  He has posted a new graphic and I will share that with you at the bottom of this post.

This enforced rest period has allowed me to give some thought to the potential kid show that I might do at Carusel.  I have divided the effects that I have here in Spain into two categories – the ones that need patter in order to be done and those that can be done silently.  I can probably do a 20 to 30 minute set with either.  I need to purchase a few basic items, but the good news is that they are all relatively inexpensive.

I spent most of yesterday reading a new novel, Cigarette Girl.  It is a fluff piece that deals with a young woman who works in the movie industry in Los Angeles.  It is the perfect book for me at this point in time since it requires little or no focus to make my way through the pages.  We also saw the second half of the documentary about Woody Allen.  It was just as good and as informative as the first part.  Allen is a true phenomenon who has managed to write and direct a new film every year.  He has had some misses along the way, but he has always done what he has wanted to do and has paid little or no attention to the demands of his critics.

That is about all that is happening in my Kleenex filled world.  Hopefully I will soon be back to doing more exciting things than lounging around.

Pepe's version of La Maja Desnuda

Pepe's 50th celebration

Monday, February 6, 2012

Well, the cold has settled between my ears and the only consolation is knowing that at least I have something between my ears.  Thank you to those of you who sent along wishes for my speedy recovery and you will be pleased to learn that we had chicken soup for dinner last night.  I will continue to take things easy today and will stay very close to home.

Zahava came by yesterday at 11:30 since she and Susan would be leaving shortly to head for the Botánico, which is an arboretum.  Members of the Jewish community here in Valencia were gathering to celebrate Tu B’shavat, which is the new year for the trees or, if you will, a celebration similar to Arbor Day in the States.  It is a celebration of the first signs of spring.  The group that gathered yesterday had a small Seder and as they moved from tree to tree they prayed, drank wine and ate food that is the product of trees like dates, almonds and figs.  Susan returned home a little after 2:00 and we sat down to a light lunch around 3:00.

Much later in the day we watched the first part of a documentary about Woody Allen.  It was first shown on PBS as part of the American Masters series.  It is a fascinating study of this very creative, unique and funny individual.  We were able to rent it via Apple TV and most probably we will watch part two today or tomorrow.  Susan watched a couple of episodes of Dowton Abbey thanks again to Apple TV.  Since I am not a fan of the series, I retreated to the bedroom and read for a while.

Rachel called around 10:00 PM our time and she was outside the house using her iPad.  We got a close-up view of the snow that had fallen on Friday and Saturday in the Denver area.  It was nice to look at and even nicer to not be anywhere near it.  Rachel is doing well and making excellent progress getting things in order.  She is off to San Francisco at the beginning of March for a games conference and following that will visit with her grandfather in Nevada City.  From Nevada City it will be back to San Francisco and on March 11 she flies off to join us here in Valencia.  We will have a great time!

I have been following the Republican primaries from here and after Romney’s victory in Nevada it looks like he will be the Republican nominee for President.  I intentionally did not use the word “choice” because it looks like he is not really the choice of many factions of the party.  The good news is that he is a better alternative than Gingrich who has this wonderful gift of alienating everyone given enough time.  Romney’s stated desire to return America to its rightful position as leader of the free world is laudable, but I am not quite sure that is possible given all the changes the world has undergone in the past twenty years.  China has become a major player on the economic scene.  India is an emerging economic power.  Brazil and Turkey are showing an economic robustness that will give them a more powerful voice in determining how things will be done.  I think the world stage these days is and will be a shared stage and it will no longer accommodate the American monologue.

Romney is also fond of talking about the failed socialism of Europe trying to play into the fear mongering of the Republicans who claim Obama is trying to turn the United States into a socialist nation.  I am sure that Romney is aware of the fact that Europe’s system is really social democracy where free enterprise reigns, but each nation is concerned with the wellbeing of its inhabitants.  There is no doubt whatsoever that many of the Mediterranean nations in Europe are experiencing difficult economic times.  This is due in part to the collapse of the financial system that was instigated by Wall Street’s clear disregard for sanity and its unbridled greed to make as much money as possible using whatever means possible.  Part of the problem has also been engendered by spending on non-necessary projects with the belief that the money faucet would never run dry.  Spain is a prime example having built a number of civic projects that are both expensive and will most probably never be used.  We all believe that the world economy will improve and the United States will be one of the world leaders to make that happen.

While pointing out Europe’s economic difficulties it might be helpful for Mr. Romney to realize and acknowledge that when it comes to infant mortality the US stands in 34^th place in the world and there are sixteen European nations that have a lower rate than the US.  When it comes to life expectancy the US finds itself in 36^th place behind nineteen other European nations.  There are fifty million Americans who have no health insurance.  All European citizens have health insurance.  All major European cities have public transportation systems that make use of a metro, buses and trains.  Spain continues to expand its rail system to accommodate the bullet trains that now crisscross the nation and will soon extend to Morocco.

The state funds the arts and therefore makes theater, dance, classical music and museums affordable for most of its citizens.  The arts and physical education are part and parcel of the education system here in Europe.  There seems to be a realization here that to produce creative thinkers rather than successful test takers it is necessary to educate the mind, the body and the senses.  Higher education is still free in Europe.  Students must pay for housing and books, but tuition is not charged any student. Additionally, any qualified European Union student can attend any European Union university free of charge.  So Pepe can afford to send Jaime to university in Liverpool and Brian and Ofelia have not had to pay tuition expenses for the four years that Olivia has been attending St. Andrew’s in Scotland.

I know it’s wishful thinking, but I think it would be a better American that focused on the physical, mental and intellectual wellbeing of all of its citizens.  In the end, it would make us a stronger and more vibrant nation equipped to deal with future problems that will inevitably arise and not be amenable to old solutions.  I think the issues of gay marriage and Planned Parenthood are smoke screens to divert attention away from the things that should matter most.

The following photos are courtesy of Susan Kaplan (Vistas de Vida).

Sunday, February 5, 2012

It’s official!  I have a cold.  That means that today will be a good day to take life easy and just rest.  I have sufficient reading material and with Apple TV up and running I won’t lack for things to keep me entertained.

Before I gave into the cold yesterday afternoon, Susan and I made our way to Carrefour to look for cookware and utensils for Rachel’s visit next month.  We were fortunate that there was a varied selection and we found a frying pan and a pot of excellent quality at a reasonable price.  On our way home we stopped for a coffee and, believe it or not, that was the extent of our activity yesterday.

We had lunch at home.  Susan made a revuelto with ham, cheese and mushrooms.  She also made a salad.  We opened a bottle of wine and enjoyed a wonderful lunch.  In the evening we watched “Moneyball” and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I liked Brad Pitt’s performance, but I thought Jonah Hill was absolutely fantastic.  It was 10:30 when the movie ended and we decided that an early bedtime was in order.  Here are some photos that Susan took this past week.